Unkind Feet
by Grendel226
Summary: Phantasy Star I: So you decimated the antlion hoardes on your way to glory. But did you ever picture it from the enemy's point of view?


feet -= Unkind Feet =-   
by Grendel226 a.k.a. Arren Dracone   
Phantasy Star I is property of Sega of American and Sega of Japan. All rights reserved by their respective parties. 

The sun beat down out of a blazing red Motavian sky. Any being unaccustomed with the hierarchy of our   
order would see lazy creatures basking in the blazing heat. This watch had been quiet, thankfully. Not so   
much as a desert worm had disturbed us, and a peaceful hazy repose had settled over our guard's front   
line. I sank back into the sand a bit, feeling my exoskeleton absorbing the heat and in turn radiating it   
outwards. A stir in the dirt next to me attracted my attention and I experimentally gnashed my pinchers,   
preparing to crush whatever reared its ugly head. "Sinjun!" "Callan! Don't sneak up on me like that fool!   
I almost snapped you off at the thorax!" Callan had been my companion since we were both fledglings.   
We had joined the Queen's Guard at the same time and he was now like a brother to me. "The Queen   
wishes to see you Sinjun. She says there's bad news from the west." "What?!" Callan flicked an antenna   
at me. "I'm a messenger, not a martyr. Godspeed Sinjun. I'll take your post." Nodding, I burrowed   
downward, feeling the baking sand close over my head. 

As I navigated the tunnels to the Queen's Chamber, I reflected on my existence as I often had. We   
antlions were the most misunderstood race of Algo without question. I remembered one day in particular   
when I was on my usual guard. A woman and her child had just exited the gates of the city called Paseo.   
After living on Motavia for an age and a day, I had picked up some of the language of these human   
creatures. I felt it had been my duty: sharing the planet with these humans dictated to me that through   
common civility I should make an effort to understand them. The child had grabbed her mother's sleeve   
and cried, "Look at the monsters, Mommy!" The woman's face went white and she scooped the child up   
to her bosom and fled back through the gates of town. After a while, I discovered that because we were   
not created like them, these humans regarded us as monsters. 

I was relieved of my quiet reverie as I reached the Queen's Chamber. "Captain Sinjun," the Queen said in   
her usual cordial voice. "Hail Queen!" I replied, reflexively inclining my head in respect. "Captain, my   
Western intelligence has brought me disquieting news. Twelve antlions were killed by a party of   
humans...and they are now coming this way." Shivering involuntarily I asked, "Shall I prepare an assault   
squad, my Queen?" She inclined an antenna towards me before stating, "Captain Sinjun, when have we   
ever resorted to violence? That is something that is reserved for beings who have no other way to vent   
their anger. We will rationally forgive the humans and grant them safe passage through our land. Perhaps   
they will learn from our example." She finished her sentence with that unquestionable finality that she was   
so fond of. The Queen had spoken true. War had never been the way of our people. We held all beings   
we shared the planet with in the highest regard. Our intelligence lines were more for defense and   
information more than anything. Starting back down the tunnel my thoughts continued. 'Even if we DID   
attack the humans, not even our full numbers would be powerful enough to quell their attacks, if they are as   
mighty as my Queen says.' Resurfacing next to Callan I imparted the situation to him. "Very well," he said   
with a decisive calmness, "We shall wait together." 

And so Callan and I began our watch. The sun had just reached the zenith of its arc and my eyes were   
becoming heavy when four hazy shapes appeared on the horizon. Their forms were distorted by the heat   
waves rising off the sand. A girl with midnight hair, a fair haired man holding a gun, a figure robed and   
hooded in white of undeterminable sex, and a Musk Cat approached us. "Look at the antlions Odin...we'll   
never make it through," said the girl with the midnight hair. "We can try, Alis," Odin said patting his gun.   
Raising my head up I addressed the one called Alis. "We mean to offer you peaceful passage through this   
land, travelers." They all looked taken aback and Alis began to draw her sword. "We mean you no   
harm!" I repeated in a louder voice. It was then I realized that they did not know our language: to them it   
was merely a series of clicks and foreign squeals. I understood the human speech, but I had no gift to   
speak it. Suddenly, Callan raised himself up on his backmost set of legs, his antennae flaying emphatically.   
"Please understand us! We come to you peacefully!" Things seemed to slow down then...or perhaps   
speed up. I remember Odin yelling, "It's attacking!" and a blinding shot from his gun...and Callan's   
smoking corpse. "It doesn't hurt at all, Sinjun," he reassured me. That was because the laser pulse had   
cauterized the wound it made clean through his exoskeleton, making a gaping hole through either side of his   
body. Suddenly, Callan began twitching, his legs flaying helplessly before they curled up beneath him like   
fragile paper. Beside Callan's body, the Musk Cat engaged one of my companions. "Protect the Queen!"   
I cried, as our world came crashing down about us. 

The sun beat down from a bloody Motavian sky. The red of the setting sun may as well have been the   
blood of my kin, spilled upon the clean white sand of the Motavian desert. Those not destroyed in the   
immediate battle were crushed when Alis and her friends returned in their land rover. Our tunnels   
collapsed beneath the weight of the treads, and our kingdom lay decimated. The souls of two hundred   
restless and emaciated antlions are bound here. And I am one of them. I do not hate you, Alis Landale,   
for hate is an emotion given to those with narrow understanding. The truth, be it told, I pity you. Had you   
but taken time to give us a chance to build a friendship you may have discovered a race who could teach   
you much, and who we could learn much from in return. Towns will be built in your name, Alis Landale,   
and you will be worshipped as the heroine of Algo, through deeds I know not of. Years from now, when   
your fame is cliche, a monument will be built here, saying "Here Alis Landale, Odin, Noah, and Myau   
vanquished the Antlion Hoard." The unkind feet of humans who called us monsters will tread where we   
laughed, loved, lived, and breathed our last. 

And the world will champion those who destroyed an empire. 


End file.
